Africa's richest man is cementing his place in history

Earlier this year, a century-old wasteland of limestone and red dirt in south-west Nigeria was transformed into the biggest cement plant in Africa. The $1bn (£626m) Ibese plant will produce 6m tonnes of cement a year – expanding to 12m – cement that will quickly be swallowed up by the huge demands of Nigeria's construction boom.

West Africa's economies are some of the fastest growing in the world, and if one man is perfectly placed to profit from the boom it is Aliko Dangote, the richest man in Africa and the richest black man in the world. Ranked in 76th place among the world's billionaires by Forbes magazine, he is one of only 16 Africans on its 1,226-strong list, with a personal fortune estimated at $11.2bn.